Sweet Talking Guys
Sweet Talking Guys is episode 12 of the first season of The Worst Witch TV series. It was Preceded by Let Them Eat Cake, and followed by A Bolt from the Blue. Plot The Grand Wizard visits the academy to give his yearly lecture, and he’s accompanied by three trainee wizards, one of whom, Merlin "Loppy Luggs" Langstaff, is bullied by his companions, Baz (Barry Dragonsbane) and Gaz (Gary Grailquest). The Grand Wizard and his students make a grand entrance as Mildred, Maud and Enid spy on them from the stairway. Gary and Barry pick on "Loppy" for a bit, much to the amusement of the girls. When they hear the laughing Gary catches them in a massive hankerchief, which the Grand Wizard lets them out of immediately. As he is ushered away by Miss Cackle, the faculty with the exception of Miss Drill are dancing about, trying to be the most interesting. All their preperations are for naught as he ditches them for Miss Cackle and her tea, leaving his boys behind to eat Miss Bat's creations. Fenella and Griselda have to sing a stupid song, but Fenella kicks Barry in the shins after he laughs at her. It's two all with a dirty foul against the boys. The food they eat makes them positively ill, so they devise a clever plan to get back at everyone. Mr. Hellebore has unwisely chosen to give a lecture about himself this year. The girls are bored, and even the staff, most notably Miss Hardbroom, are glazing over. Loppy reluctantly uses a pencil, bewitched by Baz and Gaz, to make some of the girls raise their hands, interrupting the lecture. Mildred figures out what's going on and aims to shoot an eraser at the boys, when Maud's hand shoots up causing the projectile to hit the Grand Wizard in the eye. The boys replace the pencil; nobody believes Mildred's story about it, and she is sent to her room for quiet study for the rest of the day. Hellibore then gets the bright idea to have a debate between the boys and girls on whether wizards are better than witches- though he makes it clear he thinks wizards are far superior to witches. Jadu and Ethel are chosen to speak for the girls team, but the boys have something else up their sleeve- They get Loppy to make a potion which will give them an unfair advantage, making them speak more eloquently. Mildred finds that she’s left her potion book in the potion lab and so goes there to get it. There she finds Loppy, who is really called Merlin, and she finds out from him what the wizards are up to. She takes some of the potion herself and enters the hall where the debate is taking place, where she then reveals what the wizards were up to! When the wizards leave, Merlin asks Mildred what the final score was. Mildred says that it was four all after extra time! Merlin takes leave, having found a friend in Mildred Hubble. Quotes Hellebore: “Of course, we chaps always do better at this sort of thing, but I hope you girls will put up a good fight” Davina: “we will Mr. Helliboring, we certainly will” Millie (in speech): “I'm asking a question and I haven’t ﻿finished asking it yet!!!” Gallery Trivia The Galafilm website gives this description, which does not mach the actual episode: The Chief Wizard, Egbert Hellibore, comes to give a talk to the girls on Spells, Potions, and Gourmet Cooking. The girls are given strict instructions about behaviour by Miss Cackle and H.B so that when the talk turns out to be really quite good fun, the girls have been so "drilled" that they clam up completely even when asked to join in. Hellibore presumes that they are lacking in confidence and need more practice at public speaking. He suggests a debate between the boys at his school for Wizards and, put on the spot, Miss Cackle has to agree. Ethel is chosen to be the star speaker, but even Mildred discovers she quite likes rattling on about whatever comes into her head. The girls are looking forword to meeting the boys, though when they are introduced, they hardly say a word. Have they all been overawed? But no - in the first part of the debate, the girls are indescribably good and the boys are hopeless. At break, it looks like the girls have got it in the bag. Hellibore magics some snacks for break, but some of the boys have brought their extraordinary-looking bottles of fizzy juice, which they won't let the girls near. After break - a shock turn around! Even the shy, mumbly boys have turned into regular orators, the girls are shocked to dumbness and the boys wipe the floor with them. But before the boys depart, Mildred and the others manage to steal a bottle of the suspicious fizz. When they test it out, the resuts are fascinating - especially in lessons, and eveyone wants a go. The problem comes when it spills onto inanimate objects which then have the power of speech and can talk about their lot - mostly to whinge. And finally Miss Hardbrooms's desk spills the beans to her. To their surprise, H.B. is not as cross as might be expected. A return match is arranged with the boys. Hellibore and the boys can't resist, and come fully prepared with plenty of strange fizzy juice. They don't expect that the bottle of juice will be speaking in the debate - and would have a lot to say about what the boys had been up to.http://www.galafilm.com/worstwitch/english/ Notes and references Category:1998 TV Series